Big trade and a bunch of comebacks

As much as I love Methot, this is a really bad trade for OTT. Mark Stone is this team's future, and trading him has to be for a huge return, and this is definitely not it.

1) You are giving up way too much for Hjalmarsson. He is declining at a fairly rapid pace, and would do no good here in Dallas. You are essentially replacing Methot with Hjalmarsson, while giving up prospects and a pick for him. Bad idea.

2) Ottawa is going to build around Stone. He is one of their core, young pieces. If you want to grab someone out of Ottawa, Hoffman is the way to go, though he is going to cost much more than Honka and Methot, and a couple of negotiating rights.

3) Why would you want to get rid of Johns? He's been the best defensive blue liner for us this season. He is a large physical presence and is going to be a big part of our blue line going forward. Pair him with someone like Heatherington and he is going to a part of a very physically imposing shut down pair.

With these trades, I fear that the Stars are worse off for the future than they are now.

I don't have really counterarguments for these points.

But I'm still quite positive that Dallas needs some reinforcements to their forwards. What I've seen their latest games, the team really lacks producing power in the lower lines, which is why I think they should look for a great forward. However, to do that trade, Dallas must try to include in that trade one of their bigger contracts, like Spezza, Hanzal or Methot. Problem is that no one will make a trade which includes Hanzal in it due to his longer contract. Spezza's horrible contract and NMC makes him impossible to move. Therefore only option to include in that trade is Methot because he still has some value. So if I include Methot in a trade, I'd try to find a replacement to his place, and Hanzal would take a role in that action. And when I think about moving Hanzal, I think the best option is move him to Arizona for Hjalmarsson. 1 for 1 swap isn't enough for him, and that's why included some prospects in that trade.

And btw, buying out Spezza's contract isn't a good option because it will create cap problems for 2019-20 season when we have to resign important players like Seguin and Lindell, and no one will take Spezza's term after this season.

Oh you absolutely can buy out Spezza. After the 2018-2019 season, Methot comes off the books, Lehtonen will have already taken a pay cut (or he'll be gone), Hamhuis will be gone, and Roussel will be off the books. Not to mention the fact that the cap is going to go up this offseason, and likely next offseason as well. We'll absolutely be able to buyout Spezza, pay his $2.25M in 2019-2020 while also giving Seguin his $9M+ extension. Heck, we'll have a ton of money to spend after that as well. Buying out Spezza is the best option this offseason. Nobody is going to trade for his contract, and he is grossly overpaid for the production he gives the Stars.

I certainly agree that with his performance, he isn't even worth that $2.25M his buyout will cost. I'm not that clear on all the things that has an effect on buyout, but if it is possible to buy him out of his contract then I'm all for it.